tek's rating: ¼

Flora & Ulysses (PG), on Disney+
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This is based on a book I never heard of. A 10-year-old girl named Flora Buckman is a big comic book fan, and also considers herself a cynic. Her father, George (Ben Schwartz), is a comic book creator who has failed to get published, and apparently because of his disappointment over that, he and Flora's mother, Phyllis (Alyson Hannigan), are separated. (I feel like there has to be more to the separation than that, but the movie gives no indication of other problems. In any event, George still lives nearby, working in an office supply store, and remains close with Flora and emotionally supportive of Phyllis.) Meanwhile, Phyllis is a romance novelist who is struggling to start her next book. She's even taken to using an old typewriter so as not to be distracted by the internet. One day, their neighbor's robotic vacuum cleaner goes haywire, and ends up sucking up a CGI squirrel, whom Flora resuscitates and brings home with her. She wonders if the squirrel could have gained super powers from its ordeal, which doesn't really make sense, but it turns out it did. She names the squirrel Ulysses (after the vacuum cleaner brand), and it types out messages on her mom's typewriter. Eventually it also turns out Ulysses can fly and has super strength. Also, Flora befriends her neighbor's visiting nephew, William Spiver, who has hysterical blindness.

While out with her dad, Flora brings Ulysses into a donut shop, but tries to keep him hidden. Unfortunately, their waitress Rita (Kate Micucci) sees Ulysses and gets scared, thinking he probably has rabies. Soon all hell breaks loose, and a lot of damage is done to the shop, before Flora, George, and Ulysses leave. After that, Rita gets an animal control officer named Miller (Danny Pudi, from Community) involved in searching for the squirrel, and he becomes obsessed with catching him. So George and Flora and William have to do their best to keep Ulysses safe. They also get some help from George's neighbor Dr. Meescham (Anna Deavere Smith, whom I recognized from For the People). Also, Phyllis is stressed about an interview she's doing with a newspaper, about her next book. Oh, and Flora sometimes sees manifestations of characters her dad had created, particularly one called Incandesto.

And... more stuff happens, but I don't know what else to tell you. I just thought the movie was fairly cute and fun and Flora was a pretty good character, and the movie has a few touches that I liked, even if I don't specifically remember most of them.


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